Closure of the Western Gandak Canal by the Bihar Government for structural repairs and maintenance work has given jitters to the Mayawati government in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, poll-bound UP does not want to earn the wrath of farmers in its eastern districts - Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj and Kusinagar - that are dependent on this canal system for irrigation. Of the 197-km long Western Gandak Canal irrigation system that originates in Nepal, the maximum stretch (122 km) falls in UP, 66 km in Bihar and only 19 km in Nepal. As per the bilateral agreement between India and Nepal, Bihar has been assigned the task to maintain the Nepal portion of the canal. Ever since Bihar communicated the decision to close down the canal system for repairs to UP on November 14 saying that no water would be available for irrigation of rabi and garma crops from December 2011 to June 2012, the top brass of the Uttar Pradesh administration right from the chief engineer, Principal Secretary of the Irrigation Department to the Chief Secretary and Minister of Irrigation Nasimuddin Siddiqui have been sending feelers, writing SOS letters to their counterparts in Bihar seeking immediate restoration of irrigation facilities through the canal system. UP Chief Secretary Anoop Mishra has fixed a meeting with his counterpart in Bihar on December 19 to discuss the problem and sort out an amicable solution. A team of engineers from the UP Irrigation Department is already camping in Bihar holding parleys with the technocrats here to find a way out at the earliest. They are under tremendous pressure from their political bosses in view of the coming Assembly elections. On the other hand, the Bihar Government’s plea is that it had become imperative to start the repair and maintenance work this year at the head works of this canal system that falls in Nepal as no repairs were undertaken for many years. The Centre, under the Nepal Hitkari Yojna and other schemes, provides funding for this work and the state government initiated the work only after getting its ‘go-ahead’ order. The work in Nepal portion began in February and almost half of it has been completed. The deadline to complete the work is March 2012. Bihar’s Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, Afzal Amanullah said that the Western Gandak Canal system provides irrigation facilities to farmers of Bihar, UP and Nepal throughout the year leaving hardly any time for carrying out the repairs and maintenance. He said the Principal Secretary of the UP Irrigation Department, Kishan Singh Atoria, and the chief engineer of the Gandak Project, Gorakhpur, had been officially informed about the scheduled closure of the canal system in November. Water crisis The problem: No water would be available to irrigate crops from December 2011 to June 2012 Bihar’s take: The canal system provides water to farmers of Bihar, UP and Nepal throughout the year leaving no time for carrying out maintenance What UP wants: Immediate restoration of irrigation facilities